How aid workers have handled the aftermath of the Syria-Turkey quake

Turkey and Syria are still reeling from the Feb. 6 earthquake that left more than 41,000 people dead, with casualties expected to continue rising. While the relief effort in Turkey has stretched the government, the fragile political situation in Syria has reportedly seen very little aid enter the northwestern region of the country, particularly to areas opposed to the regime of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad. The United Nations has now announced the opening of two new border crossings into northern Syria, but it comes as the immediate rescue efforts are “coming to a close,” according to Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s emergency relief coordinator. As aid agencies start to look to long-term outlook and international interest is in danger of fading, funding remains a major concern. Action for Humanity is one NGO that has been providing aid in Idlib and northern Aleppo. Devex spoke with Hani Habbal, the organization’s Turkey-based head of programs for northern Syria and northwest Syria, for his view of the situation. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Can you tell us about the challenges Action for Humanity has been facing over the last ten days? After the earthquake, it was a unique disaster, because both offices were heavily damaged, we lost three staff in Syria. Most of our staff in Turkey have lost relatives, there has been heavy damage to our staff. But we realized that if we don’t do our aid jobs, who will do it? They continue to provide, to focus on the job, regardless of the traumas they have faced. Operationally, the biggest challenge has been the issue of the supply chain. In the days following the quake, the crossing points [from Turkey to Syria] were closed; we had to go to procure aid locally. Prices were increasing every hour, so it was difficult for us to procure any aid. Now the border crossings are opening, how will that change things? Only one crossing point was not enough to supply aid. But needs are very high in Syria: Whatever is provided is still not enough. Turkey itself is managing the crossing points, but they are affected too, responding to the crisis in Turkey, so it is still a challenge to supply aid to Syria. Syria has been underfunded for 12 years — there was no hospital capacity before this week, only suffering. No food before this week, just poverty. After neglecting Syrians for so long, the world owes them help. We have to take Syria from aid dependency to resilience. Building infrastructure, thinking about the kids. Education has been suffering from a lack of funding over the last 12 years and has been mostly focused on the primary level. After 12 years, no one knows what happens. After 12 years of crisis, we are talking about a generational problem. What about the needs in Turkey? On Wednesday, I visited Antakya. The devastation is beyond words, unimaginable. Turkey’s government announced that 85% of the city has already been destroyed and the remaining 15% of the city is not functional; they will be demolishing the other buildings. But what about the Syrians suffering from displacement? It might be their second or third displacement — when they arrived in Turkey they thought they had a safe environment where they could rebuild their lives, but went back to zero. They are now on the streets, looking for shelter. What are your long-term concerns about the situation in Turkey? The volume of destruction I’ve seen in only one governorate was really unimaginable. I’m not sure to what extent the Turkish government will be able to cope with the catastrophe by itself. I believe the international community has to support Turkey and Syria [in] rebuilding whatever was destroyed. AFH lost three colleagues as a result of the earthquake. How are staff being looked after now? We’ve managed to relocate the duty station to [a] safer place and activated our duty of care policy. We are taking care of staff in Turkey and Syria. Whatever they need we are trying hard to secure funding to support them.